Introduction
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) simplifies deploying and managing containerized applications. This tutorial walks through the entire container lifecycle from Dockerfile to production deployment.
Step 1: Containerize the Application
Create a Dockerfile for your .NET application:
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:8.0 AS base
WORKDIR /app
EXPOSE 8080
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0 AS build
WORKDIR /src
COPY . .
RUN dotnet publish -c Release -o /app/publish
FROM base AS final
COPY --from=build /app/publish .
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "MyApp.dll"]
Step 2: Build & Test Locally
docker build -t myapp:v1 .
docker run -p 8080:8080 myapp:v1
Step 3: Push to Azure Container Registry
Create an ACR instance and push your container image to it using the Azure CLI.
Step 4: Create the AKS Cluster
Provision an AKS cluster with the Azure CLI, configure kubectl, and verify connectivity.
Step 5: Write Kubernetes Manifests
Create deployment and service YAML files to describe your application's desired state in Kubernetes.
Step 6: Deploy to AKS
Apply the manifests to your cluster and verify the application is running with a public load balancer.
Step 7: Set Up CI/CD with GitHub Actions
Automate the build, push, and deploy pipeline using GitHub Actions for continuous deployment.
